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Weekly anb05167.txt #8

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WEEKLY NEWS ISSUE of: 16-05-2002      PART #7/8
* Rwanda. Rusatira arrêté à Bruxelles - Léonidas Rusatira, un ancien militaire rwandais, qui faisait l'objet d'un mandat d'arrêt pour génocide et crimes contre l'humanité délivré par le Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda, a été arrêté le 15 mai à Bruxelles et incarcéré. Son transfert au TPIR devrait intervenir dans un délai de trois mois au maximum. M. Rusatira est un ancien officier supérieur, commandant d'une école militaire rwandaise à l'époque du génocide. Après l'assassinat du président Habyarimana, un comité de crise avait été mis en place dont il faisait partie. (La Libre Belgique, 16 mai 2002)
* Sénégal. Elections locales - Le 12 mai, les Sénégalais ont voté pour élire leurs conseillers régionaux, municipaux et ruraux, bouclant ainsi une série d'élections entamée le 28 février 2000 par la présidentielle. Les électeurs devaient désigner 14.352 conseillers qui siégeront dans 11 conseils régionaux, 43 communes d'arrondissement, 65 communes et 322 communautés rurales. Deux grandes coalitions se disputaient les suffrages: le Cap 21 (regroupant le parti au pouvoir et la mouvance présidentielle) et le Cadre permanent de concertation (CPC) formé de l'essentiel des partis d'opposition. On craignait toutefois un fort taux d'abstention, à cause notamment de l'absence d'une médiatisation de la campagne électorale. - 13 mai. Selon les premières tendances, basées sur des résultats partiels et non officiels, le Cap 21 aurait gagné dans la région de Dakar et à Thiès, mais aurait perdu dans plusieurs métropoles régionales (Ziguinchor, Sédhiou, Kaolack, Tambacounda, Kédougou et plusieurs autres villes de l'intérieur). (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 13 mai 2002)
* Senegal. Local elections - 12 May Voters go to the polls to elect 11,900 regional, municipal and rural councillors in the country's 11 regions, 67 communes and 332 rural communities. 14 May: The CAP Coalition, grouping Senegal's ruling Democratic Party and its partners, has won nine out of the eleven regional Councils, according to provisional results. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 15 May 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Elections - Les élections présidentielles et législatives sont prévues le 14 mai. Le président sortant, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah semble assuré de sa réélection, face à 8 autres candidats. Pour les législatives, plus de vingt partis politiques se disputeront les 124 sièges au Parlement. - Le vendredi 10 mai, des milliers de personnes faisant partie des forces de sécurité ont déjà voté. Ce jour de vote était destiné aux forces de sécurité, au personnel chargé de l'organisation des élections et à d'autres personnes qui, en raison de leurs fonctions, ne pourront pas voter le jour normal des élections. Environ 31 bureaux de vote ont été ouverts dans tout le pays pour ce vote spécial. D'autre part, le commandant de la mission des Nations unies a averti que ses forces seraient sévères à l'encontre des fauteurs de troubles. - Le 11 mai à Freetown, de violents incidents ont entaché le dernier jour de la campagne électorale. Les services de sécurité ont tiré à balles réelles pour disperser des militants du SLPP (au pouvoir) et du RUF qui s'affrontaient. - 14 mai. Près de 2,4 millions d'électeurs étaient appelés aux urnes. Ils ont voté massivement, sous la haute protection des casques bleus. Le scrutin s'est déroulé sans incident notable. Plus de 4.200 observateurs locaux et internationaux supervisaient les élections. - 15 mai. La population de Freetown a acclamé les premiers résultats officieux et partiels qui donnent le président sortant, Ahmed Kabbah, largement en tête, loin devant le parti des anciens rebelles du RUF. Les résultats officiels ne sont pas attendus avant le vendredi 17 mai. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 15 mai 2002)
* Sierra Leone. Presidential and parliamentary elections - 9 May: Freetown grinds to a halt as thousands of jubilant supporters of the former ruling All People's Congress (APC) take to the streets in a political rally ahead of the country's 14 May elections. The rally brings together all shades of APC supporters clad in red and white, the party's colour, drumming, dancing, singing and carrying banners with varying slogans. The main Siaka Stevens Street, named in honour of the late Sierra Leonean president, founder of the APC, is the centre of action, with pockets of supporters scattered in other parts of the city, effectively bringing it to a halt. -- The High Court orders the publication of the full list of presidential and parliamentary candidates contesting the 14 May election. This reverses the order it had given to the National Electoral Commission on 7 May to put on hold the final list containing the names of parliamentary, vice presidential and presidential candidates. 10 May: Former rebels and soldiers from Sierra Leone's once-undisciplined army vote today ahead of next week's main polling day in an election designed to give the country a new start after a decade of civil war. The special vote will allow security forces to be free for surveillance and monitoring of the 14 May elections, the first since the end of the war in January. At the Benguema training camp, about 32 kilometres east of the capital Freetown, new recruits drawn from different factions that participated in the war line up to vote. The recruits are supervised by officials from the National Election Commission (NEC). The NEC's chairman, Walter Nicol, tells journalists that between 10,000 and 15,000 voters are expected to take part in the special ballot. Their votes are to be counted after the 14 May elections. 11 May: United Nations troops in Sierra Leone have intervened to break up riots in the centre of the capital, Freetown, as opposing political parties clashed. Several people were seriously injured by the stone-throwing supporters of the ruling party and former rebels of the Revolutionary United Front, (RUF). This is the first significant electoral violence in the campaign ahead of the 14 May elections which are meant to mark the end of a decade-long war. The clashes came as campaigning ended for the landmark presidential poll. UN troops in armoured personnel carriers fired into the air to break up crowds of hundreds of rival supporters. After the UN intervened, a semblance of order returned and this isolated incident should be seen in the context of a so far remarkably peaceful election campaign. 14 May: Presidential and parliamentary elections. 15 May: Counting has begun. Kabbah is reported to be ahead. 16 May: Preliminary results from the elections in Sierra Leone show the incumbent President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, has taken a strong lead, Electoral Commissioner Walter Nicol said. Turnout was high and there were no reports of violence in the vote which, it is hoped, will mark a definitive end to the 10-year civil war. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 16 May 2002)
* Somalia. Trouble in "Puntland" - 8 May: Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, one of two men claiming the presidency of Somalia's autonomous state of Puntland, has seized the region's commercial capital Bossasso, following a three-day sweep across the region. Bossasso was the last remaining stronghold of Jama Ali Jama, who was chosen by clan elders in November to replace Abdullahi Yusuf as president. Colonel Yusuf's offensive began on 6 May near his southern stronghold of Garoweh, and spread quickly north. Bossasso appears to have fallen without a fight. Elders arranged for Colonel Yusuf's entry into the city rather than allow it to be damaged. Ali Jama fled the city by car, and when it became clear that he was not about to make a stand local officials changed sides. Bossasso is home to 70,000 residents and is critical to the finances of Puntland. Taxes from exports of sheep, goats and camels to Dubai and Kuwait, as well as duties levied on imports of cars and electrical good, pay for the running of the region. Last year a congress of elders elected Jama Ali Jama as the new head of Puntland, but this was immediately rejected by Colonel Yusuf, who described the vote as futile and illegal. He accused supporters of the transitional government in Mogadishu of being involved in the leadership change, although it is not clear whether Mr Jama is any more sympathetic to Mogadishu than Colonel Yusuf. (ANB-BIA, Brussels, 8 May 2002)
* Somalie. Le président du Puntland renversé - Le mercredi matin, 8 mai, la milice loyale au colonel Abdulahi Yusuf Hamed a envahi la ville portuaire de Bosaso et renversé le président Jama Ali Jama de la région autonome du Puntland. La veille déjà, la milice de Yusuf s'était emparée de la ville de Qardo. Elle s'est ensuite dirigée sur Bosaso, dont elle a pris le contrôle sans rencontrer de résistance. M. Jama s'est enfui dans le village d'Iskushuban, à quelque 160 km de la ville. En août 2001, Jama avait renversé le colonel Yusuf, qui est soutenu par l'Ethiopie. Celui-ci a déclaré maintenant à la foule rassemblée à Bosaso qu'il était le président légitime du Puntland. (D'après PANA, Sénégal, 10 mai 2002)
* Somalie. Attaque éthiopienne - Le 15 mai, plusieurs centaines de soldats éthiopiens en uniforme ont attaqué la ville frontalière somalienne de Bulo Hawo, forçant des centaines de personnes à fuir leurs habitations, ont rapporté des témoins. Les forces éthiopiennes, qui ont utilisé des véhicules blindés et étaient soutenues par des milices somaliennes, se sont emparés de Bulo Hawo, à quelques kilomètres au sud de la frontière, après avoir bombardé la ville, selon ces témoins. La ville était contrôlée par une faction soutenant le gouvernement de transition du président Salat Hassan. Les autorités éthiopiennes ont démenti l'information. (AP, 15 mai 2002)
* Somalia. Renewed fighting in southern Somalia - 15 May: Ethiopian troops are reported to have crossed the border into Somalia to help militias fighting the Somali Government. Eyewitnesses who fled across the border to Kenya together with hundreds of others, say that at least two people were killed and four injured when Ethiopian soldiers attacked the border town of Bulo Hawo early this morning. Kenya, which had given the Somali refugees in Mandera until today to go home, says it will set up a temporary camp for the thousands of refugees. Bulo Hawo is now once again controlled by the militias of the Somali Reconstruction and Restoration Council (SRRC), a coalition of opposition warlords backed by Ethiopia. Ten days ago, the SRRC had lost the town to the forces of Colonel Abdirizak Issak Bihi. Colonel Bihi has reportedly been captured unhurt by the Ethiopian forces and taken across the border to Ethiopia. The exchange of gunfire and the noise of the shelling in Bulo Hawo could be heard in Mandera. More than 10,000 Somali refugees have already found refuge in the Kenyan border town from the fighting in Gedo.The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has agreed with the Kenyan Government to feed the refugees by 17 May. But in the longer term, the Kenyan government would like the Somali refugees to go home. (BBC News, UK, 16 May 2002)
* South Africa. More tolerant of corruption - Bribe-taking has become more common in democratic South Africa, the Transparency International survey found. More than half the company executives interviewed said corruption "had increased" or "increased significantly" in the past five years. The "deterioration of the rule of law" and "public tolerance of corruption" were identified as the main reasons behind the worsening trend, Mari Harris of Markinor, who conducted the survey, said on 14 May. The increase in bribery of public officials was blamed on low public sector salaries. Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, recently declared an "all-out war" on corruption in the public sector after several cases were exposed by the media. South African respondents found that local companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, were the most likely to offer bribes to get a contract or increase their market share. Among international companies, large multinationals were most likely to use bribes to enter the South African market, the survey found, particularly those from China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Russia. British companies were regarded by South African executives as the least likely to offer bribes, followed in the "squeaky clean" league by Swiss, Canadian and Swedish groups. (Financial Times, UK, 15 May 2002)
* South Africa. Military adapting to budget constraints - The South African military, one of the most powerful in Africa, is redrafting its strategic plans and reviewing force levels to adapt to budget constraints, Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on 14 May. "The mismatch between defense policy and our defense budget allocation has forced us to re-examine our overall strategy. Some hard decisions have to be made," he told parliament. The defense force has already signed a 12-year deal with countries including Britain, Sweden, Italy and Germany to provide jet trainers, fighters, ships and submarines at a total cost of $4.8 billion. Lekota said the combined defense force, including army, air force and navy, had calculated its need at 4.1 billion rand ($406.1 million) over the 20.6 billion rand allocated in the budget for fiscal 2002-2003. "We are putting together a new force design and structure that will both enable us to carry out our constitutional obligations in the widest sense, whilst being affordable," he said. South Africa has deployed 930 soldiers to United Nations and other peace-keeping missions around Africa and has promised to play an active role in future monitoring missions. Lekota, who told legislators he would soon submit a new military strategy to the cabinet, has committed to reducing defense force numbers from the current 78,800 to a maximum of 70,000 by the end of next year. (CNN, USA, 15 May 2002)
* Soudan. Massacre de civils - En une semaine, le Sud-Soudan a été le théâtre de massacres perpétrés par des rebelles ougandais, ayant coûté la vie à plus de 470 civils, a annoncé l'Eglise catholique. Selon un communiqué du diocèse de Torit, ces massacres ont été commis par les rebelles de l'Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA) dans leur fuite en territoire soudanais, alors qu'ils étaient poursuivis par l'armée de Kampala. (Le Soir, Belgique, 13 mai 2002) 

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